Earlier today the National Wrestling Alliance announced that effective immediately (this took place prior to the TNA Sacrifice pay-per-view), it is ending its business relationship with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, and stripping Christian Cage and Team 3-D of the World Heavyweight and World Tag-Team Titles, respectively.

NWA Executive Director Robert K. Trokich had some unflattering things to say about Christian Cage not granting people title shots as well, as if (1) Christian really has anything to do with making that decision, and (2) the NWA and TNA hadn't signed an agreement allowing TNA to lease the NWA World Heavyweight and World Tag Team Titles.

So, essentially what this boils down to is that when Kurt Angle won the World Heavyweight Title at Sacrifice tonight, that reign was not recognized as an NWA World Heavyweight Title reign; he's more likely to eventually be recognized as the first TNA World Heavyweight Champion. (Though that hasn't actually been stated yet). TNA will return the NWA World Heavyweight and World Tag Team Title belts to the possession of the National Wrestling Alliance, and brand their own titles to replace them.

It also essentially means that you'll probably never hear about the NWA titles ever again, since when was the last time the National Wrestling Alliance was really relevant by itself? 1991?

"Yep....and was it really necessary having the woman keep glancing down at his penis?" (Kevintripod)

Well, they already ordered up new titles, and they arrived recently, if PWI's to be believed:

TNA recently received their new TNA championship and Tag Team championship title belts, so I would expect the change from the NWA championships to go down soon, possibly even this weekend at Sacrifice. They've also ordered a new X-Division championship belt as well. It's most likely the company will just drop the use of the NWA names and send their titleholders out with new belts.

So that probably explains that. Bryan Danielson's probably doing backflips... and making Shane Hagadorn tap, just out of habit.

Originally posted by ekedolphinNWA Executive Director Robert K. Trokich had some unflattering things to say about Christian Cage not granting people title shots as well, as if (1) Christian really has anything to do with making that decision, and (2) the NWA and TNA hadn't signed an agreement allowing TNA to lease the NWA World Heavyweight and World Tag Team Titles.

The video seems to be maintaining kayfabe, so they probably didn't want to just state the real reasons for the dissolution, and the fact Christian's been playing a chickenshit heel champion helps.

Meltzer is saying that the disputed finish at Sacrifice will be used to vacate the existing title, leading to the crowning of a new TNA champion in King of the Mountain next month. It'd be interesting if they made an angle out of this, suggesting that NWA and TNA differ on how the disputed finish should be handled, resulting in NWA pulling out and TNA creating their own title. That would save more face for TNA, I think, than just creating a new belt and acting like nothing happened.

I'm curious as to whether Angle will be recognized by the NWA in their title histories--seems like they could do worse than to have him on the list. It'll also be interesting to see if TNA continues to recognize that they used to have the NWA title, or if they'll start referring to, say, Jeff Jarrett as a six-time TNA champion.

The video seems to be maintaining kayfabe, so they probably didn't want to just state the real reasons for the dissolution, and the fact Christian's been playing a chickenshit heel champion helps.

You know, that's a good point; believe it or not I hadn't thought of that.

Does the NWA actually have any real nationwide presence anymore, or is it basically (as Rick Scaia joked) "a bunch of delusional losers who conduct board meetings in their parents' bedrooms"?

(edited by ekedolphin on 14.5.07 0148)

That's something I'd really, really, like to know. Thank you for asking because I've never understood how the NWA as a organization has operated. Yet as a true fan of traditional wrestling roots that's the only title that's been around longer than any others not to unified into another company. Now other championships have been unified into it and other companies have started from them. WWWF(63) after the disputed of the title, WCW(80's) after Turner purchased JCP, and most recently TNA(2002). I agree on the linage thing...wonder if TNA will latch on like WCW did and then the WWE after the collection of the WCW championship.

Why do I get the feeling they always get used like a bastard?

That'll make at least one person happy which it now puts him in about the middle of the pack in the NWA.

Originally posted by ekedolphinDoes the NWA actually have any real nationwide presence anymore, or is it basically (as Rick Scaia joked) "a bunch of delusional losers who conduct board meetings in their parents' bedrooms"?

The NWA, as a modern entity, is pretty worthless on any scale. By all accounts it's made up of promoters who pay for the priveledge of being part of the group they grew up watching.

TNA were smart to use the NWA name to create a false sense of prestige and history in its early days, but they've been established enough for the past year or two that they didn't need it anymore. I'd actually be very surprised if the casual fans (if TNA have such a thing) even notice the NWA/TNA switch unless TNA make a point of mentioning it.

On an even more positive note, at least they'll finally be rid of the hideous NWA Title belt. I appreciate the idea behind using the same belt that Flair, Rhodes, Race etc. held, but it looked so outdated and out of place.

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Well, apparently TNA is going to make us notice it, the name-switch I mean, because tomorrow night on TNAWrestling.com they will unveil the new TNA World Heavyweight Championship belt.

Wednesday and Thursday they'll reveal the new TNA World Tag Team Title belts and the new X-Division Title belt, respectively (even if they didn't really need to do the latter, since the X-Division Title is, and has always been, a TNA belt and not an NWA belt).

If you ask me they did it a little out of order, but hey, at least tomorrow night we'll know what the new TNA World Heavyweight Title belt looks like.

Originally posted by ekedolphinWednesday and Thursday they'll reveal the new TNA World Tag Team Title belts and the new X-Division Title belt, respectively (even if they didn't really need to do the latter, since the X-Division Title is, and has always been, a TNA belt and not an NWA belt).

They probably just had a new X-Division belt made because, if I remember correctly, the previous one still had the old NWA-TNA logo from 2002 on it. If that was the case, then an update was probably in order.